That "Pride I" could actually take effect on the Lion Grass, which had no emotion receptors, was somewhat beyond Dark's expectations.
But since this was the case, could one reason backward that this Lion Grass's brain simulation wasn't as bad as imagined?
"Perhaps it can be made normal through slow debugging."
Dark immediately paid enough credits, then pulled the coarse cloth back over the cage, gave it a casual pat, and lifted it up.
Although the Lion Grass had the build of a lion cub, it still had a bit of weight to it.
Once Dark left the shop, he switched to a small cart, first brought the Lion Grass back to Traveler Street, then summoned Meowth and had it carry the iron cage back to the dormitory.
After that he continued his shopping.
On Friday afternoons, there were always especially many students on Traveler Street.
But the people buying chocolate-making materials were unexpectedly few.
The students clearly cared less about White Valentine's Day than about Valentine's Day, and it was also rare to see anyone giving back hand-made chocolates as a return gift.
This situation had likely arisen because a round of filtering had already taken place.
In any case, Dark quickly bought all the materials and molds for making chocolate.
Next, he began selecting the eighteen kinds of attribute materials for transmuting the eighteen-faced die.
The selection of these eighteen materials was actually quite a science. Dark had at one point considered simply using eighteen kinds of attribute powder instead, but after thinking it over, he still decided to select and grind them himself.
After all, Alvit's [Tri-Armed Transmutation Circle] is the fusion of mind, mana, and armament into one.
The more painstakingly one crafts it, the higher the final probability of success.
But this round of selecting dragged on until around dusk.
"Boss, wrap it up."
After Dark had selected his last material, he let out a slight sigh of relief.
Then on Traveler Street he bought a snack much like a hand-grabbed pancake, eating as he walked.
By the time he'd finished the snack, he'd also more or less returned to the Castle.
As the sky darkened, the evening glow gradually faded, and a wisp of rain clouds came drifting in.
Threads of raindrops fell from the night sky.
"How lucky."
Dark sighed in admiration and walked through the Castle's main gate.
...
"Knock, knock, knock."
Dark knocked on the door of his own dormitory.
After waiting a little while, the dormitory door was opened from within, and what appeared before Dark were two ribbon feelers poking out through the crack of the door.
He let the ribbons coil around his arm and said, "Open the door wider."
"Mi——" Sylveon opened the door, making it easier for Dark to enter.
Right after, vicious "grr-grr" growls came from inside the room, mixed in with the cries of several other Catnip.
Once Dark passed through the entryway, he saw the Lion Grass still locked in the iron cage.
But the Lion Grass at this moment seemed a bit bedraggled?
Dark took one look and didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
It seemed that once the effect of Pride wore off, the Lion Grass had immediately turned vicious again, and who knew who had dealt with it so harshly.
Not only had they flipped its body over so its belly faced up, but they had also spread its four limbs out and bound them to the four corners of the iron cage, and even plugged its mouth with a stopper.
So that it could only let out "grr-grr" cries.
"Truly hopeless."
Dark didn't bother with the Lion Grass; instead, he first unloaded all the materials from the cart and went to the bathroom to wash his hands.
Only after he came out did he sit down to think of a method.
Keeping it like this forever obviously wouldn't do.
But the effect of the [Major Sin Card] could only last a period of time.
And Catnip, unlike Magic Guide Spirits, couldn't have their sentience awakened with a [Major Sin Card].
""Pride" has already been stockpiled to 8 points—perhaps I could cultivate a fruit first and then decide?"
Dark thought it over carefully, but for the moment couldn't come up with a method, so he helplessly made the call.
"Let's do it this way!"
"Its current posture is also just right for feeding—I could try feeding it a drop or two first and see the reaction."
No sooner said than done. Dark took out the magic-brain dropper and went straight to the balcony, drawing 1 point of "Pride" from the Insect Branch.
All along, he had let the Catnip suck out "Major Sin" from the Insect Branch themselves, but the Lion Grass in its current state obviously couldn't manage that. So he could only forcibly inject it.
He returned to the room, reached into the cage, propped up the Lion Grass's head, then pulled the stopper plugging its mouth out a little, exposing a hole into which the magic-brain dropper could be inserted.
After that, naturally, he inserted the dropper's pointed tip into the hole, then squeezed the "magic-brain."
As that single drop of "Pride" was squeezed into the Lion Grass's mouth, its body suddenly stiffened—completely different from the feeling when the other Catnip absorbed "Major Sin."
Seeing the Lion Grass stop struggling, Dark couldn't help hesitating.
On one hand, this proved that directly dripping in "Pride" could affect its behavior.
On the other hand, it also meant that the cultivation of the [Fruit of Pride] had run into a mishap.
Nobody likes mishaps.
"Let me observe a bit more."
So he temporarily abandoned the idea of cultivating a [Fruit of Pride] in one go.
And the Lion Grass, after absorbing 1 point of Pride, really did quiet down.
Worried that it might suddenly go berserk, Dark did not release its bindings, but continued to observe.
While observing, he also took the chance to do some work that didn't demand as much concentration.
For instance, grinding the materials into powder.
...
That night, Dark spent the entire evening and finally ground the eighteen kinds of materials into powder, packing them separately into eighteen small bottles.
Looking at the Lion Grass again at this point, it was still very quiet, as if it had fallen into a deep slumber.
But the Lion Grass's eyes had not closed, and from time to time it would even blink a few times.
Dark couldn't figure out the logic behind it, so he simply went to bed after extracting the day's portion of "Major Sin."
Since "Pride" was sufficient for now, the "Greed" index wasn't enough, and the "Lust" index was still above one hundred, he chose to extract "Lust" tonight.
...
The next day, Saturday.
The moment Dark woke up, he immediately came before the iron cage.
The effect of that 1 point of "Pride" seemed to have already worn off; the Lion Grass had once again turned vicious and frenzied, but the binding of its limbs and the stopper in its mouth restricted its play.
Dark frowned and pondered for a long while, then simply squeezed two more points of "Pride" into its mouth!
Three points of "Major Sin," under normal circumstances, could make an emblem emerge on top of a Catnip's head and a sprout bud forth.
This showed that for a creature like the Catnip, three points of "Major Sin" was very likely a rather crucial amount.
In any case, once these two points of "Pride" entered its mouth, the Lion Grass quieted down again.
And atop its head, the emblem of "Pride" gradually emerged as well.
If one touched it carefully, one could even feel a slight bump in the middle of that emblem.
"Looks like there's no abnormality."
"But no rush—let me observe for another day."
"As for today, let me first try making chocolate!"
...
Dark set his concerns aside for now and prepared to boil down the chocolate.
Before this, he had never imagined that one day he too would make chocolate with his own hands.
But this kind of experience—making sweets by hand—was actually pretty great.
It was just that the Magic Guide Spirits' desire to show off seemed a bit strong?
He didn't know whether it was a case of "keeping company turning one alike."
One after another, they revealed their "fond-of-playing-teacher" side.
Dark let them direct him this way and that the whole time, cheerful from start to finish.
But the entire boiling-down process went fairly smoothly.
The chocolate finally produced was bitter with a hint of sweetness, just like the taste of life.
...
Finally, Dark divided the chocolate into fifteen portions—five portions of liqueur chocolates and ten portions of milk chocolate—each packaged in a gift box.
"Don't be impatient—I'll give them to you when White Valentine's Day comes."
After dismissing the Magic Guide Spirits, Dark once again came before the iron cage.
From the moment the sprout grew out atop the Lion Grass's head until now, it had been nearly twelve hours.
Throughout these twelve hours, the Lion Grass remained as if asleep, so quiet that it was unnerving.
So much so that Dark didn't even dare lightly invest more "Pride."
Although "Pride" was a renewable resource, if he invested this much all at once and it all went down the drain, he would still ache so much he couldn't breathe.
"Wait a bit more, wait a bit more!"
Dark restrained his impulse.
He always felt that this "half-asleep, half-awake" state of the Lion Grass was very likely "digestion and absorption."
At this juncture, forcibly injecting more "Pride" to force out a fruit would truly be unwise!
...
After his mood had settled, Dark concentrated his attention and began making the eighteen-faced die.
The eighteen-faced crystal he had obtained was extremely regular and didn't need much polishing; the difficulty lay in the engraving of the attribute symbols.
But he first drew the symbols on the crystal's surface with a pen, then carved them out little by little with sufficient patience, and the final product was utterly perfect.
"Phew——"
After letting out a light breath, Dark rinsed the eighteen-faced crystal clean under the faucet, then used a fine carving tool to smooth away the burrs inside the symbol grooves, then rinsed it once more and wiped it dry.
With that, the work on the crystal itself was considered complete.
What needed to be done next was to apply a specially made magic potion inside the symbol grooves, then fill in the corresponding attribute material powder, wipe away the parts overflowing the surface, and let it air-dry naturally.
The whole process seemed simple, but by the time it was truly finished it was already deep night.
Dark glanced at the pitch-black outside the window, wiped away a bit of sweat, and prepared to continue!
As the saying goes, strike while the iron is hot.
Besides, tomorrow was Sunday, so even falling asleep in the small hours wouldn't matter at all.
But before formally starting the transmutation, he went into the bathroom and rinsed off once, letting his spirit and body gradually relax under the wash of the hot water and recover to a good state.
After the bath was over, he drank a cup of special apple juice, and the drowsiness produced by the bathing was instantly blown away, leaving him invigorated.
By this point, the time had already passed midnight.
Some of the Magic Guide Spirits had already obediently climbed onto their own little beds.
And that Lion Grass remained in its "half-asleep, half-awake" state.
Dark picked up the eighteen-faced crystal on the table and examined it carefully.
This pitch-black, translucent crystal had a full eighteen faces, each one already engraved with an attribute symbol of a different color.
As for the remaining Light attribute and Dark attribute.
According to Dark's own understanding, the crystal itself was the pitch-black Dark attribute, carrying a trace of demonic nature inherited from the Evil Eye.
"Next, the transmutation is about to begin."
"No, wait—how about using Light attribute powder to apply another layer of white over the surface of the pitch-black crystal?"
"Although an eighteen-faced drinking-game die isn't white, the first impression a die gives is still predominantly white."
"Eighteen plus two, twenty attributes—perfectly complete."
"Let's do it this way!"
Sometimes inspiration always flashes in an instant.
And Dark put his initiative into action for it.
About half an hour later, he finished meticulously applying the pure-white, glowing Light attribute powder over the crystal's surface.
Picking it up again at this point, it finally gave the impression of a "die."
He couldn't help revealing a faint smile.
Since coming into contact with "Tri-Armed Armament Transmutation," this was probably the work he had put the most care into.
"Next, let the transmutation begin!"
...
The steps of Tri-Armed Armament Transmutation, Dark had already grown adept at.
First, prepare the special magic potion possessing the "Mirage" effect—"Manjusaka."
Then take a blank Magic Guide Card, apply the "Manjusaka" evenly, add some other auxiliary materials, and make the base.
...
Half an hour later, he began engraving the "[Tri-Armed Transmutation Circle]."
Ten minutes later, he began "Mental Smelting."
That is, pouring "mental power" into the "[Tri-Armed Transmutation Circle]" to convert it into a "Mental Furnace."
For this, Dark had already prepared 1 point of "Pride," 1 point of "Lust," and 1 point of "Greed."
"Pride" is the Light attribute.
"Lust" is the Dark attribute.
"Greed" is the fusion agent.
If these three kinds of "Major Sin" could fuse into one and be cast into a "Mental Furnace," then this armament transmutation could be considered more than half a success.
Therefore, he was extremely careful.
As the three points of "Major Sin" were dripped one by one into the glowing sphere of that "[Tri-Armed Transmutation Circle]," the sphere first turned white, then turned black, and finally, under the melting of "Greed," actually turned into a color of black and white merging together.
The radiance of black and white gradually lit up the bedroom.
"The final step."
Dark fixed his eyes in concentration, casually picked up the now-empty bottle of Spirit Wine, tilted his head back, and drank the last mouthful he had deliberately saved.
As the Spirit Wine flowed down his throat, mana gushed forth like a spring.
He immediately placed that completed eighteen-faced crystal into the "Mental Furnace," then pressed the mana pen onto the top of the furnace, continuously pouring in mana.
As mana drained away madly, the eighteen-faced crystal within the "Mental Furnace" was smelted and absorbed amid its rotation.
When it had completely vanished, Dark pressed the mana pen downward, and that spherical "Mental Furnace" rapidly shrank into an extremely thick layer of light curtain, covering the card's face.
Within the light curtain, seven-colored light kept intermingling, showing that the internal reaction was still intense.
But by this step, Dark had completed everything he was capable of doing.
Next, all that remained was to quietly await the moment of receiving the result.
He calmed his mind, his expression expectant yet not anxious.
Although he had indeed put a great deal of care into making this eighteen-faced die, he had no specific goal.
So no matter what kind of armament this eighteen-faced die ultimately turned into, he wouldn't feel let down.
This is what's called—flaw-crab-ly impeck-able!
...
[Card Name: Eighteen-Faced Die (Tentative)]
[Type: Item Card]
[Effect: ?? (?'ω'?)]
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